Sockers Sailing to Cleveland : They Hit the Road With a 2-0 Lead After 6-1 Victory

Secure in the knowledge that they can beat the Cleveland Force with or without a great deal of intensity, luck or Branko Segota, the five-time indoor champion Sockers will fly to Cleveland this morning with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Major Indoor Soccer League championship series.

If the first two games of this series are any indication, the Sockers don’t figure to encounter much turbulence once they arrive.

After a lackluster performance and untidy victory in Game 1 Wednesday, the Sockers cleaned up their act for Game 2 Friday night and polished off Cleveland, 6-1, in front of 9,643 at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Hugo Perez, as he did in Game 1, scored a pair of goals, George Fernandez added two more, and Zoltan Toth came within two minutes of his first playoff shutout as the Sockers sent the Force home trying to think of some way to win.

The Sockers have now beaten Cleveland six times this year, including four regular-season games, and are talking of winning two more and not having to play back home again.

“The momentum can shift very quickly if we lose one,” said Ron Newman, Socker coach. “We want to go over there and put this thing away.”

Said Socker forward Juli Veee: “Everybody’s had enough. Look at our fans. They’re spending loads and loads of money coming out here to support us. We can give them a break by ending it.

“Of course, it won’t be easy. We know we haven’t seen the real Cleveland yet.”

Wherever the “real” Cleveland is, it had better show up in a hurry.

The Sockers, who won the first game when luck carried them through on an off-night, raised their game Friday and left the Force flat-footed.

“It seemed like we were doing a lot of spectating,” said Kai Haaskivi, Force midfielder. “We’ve got to start being the ones who go out and make some things happen.”

The Sockers did that in Game 2 with tenacity and aggressiveness that was missing in Game 1.

The first sign came in the second quarter, when the Sockers committed six fouls in the first seven minutes and were forced to play short-handed.

By the end of the period, the Sockers, hitting everything that moved, had 11 fouls, one more than they had in the entire first half Wednesday night.

“That was a good sign because it meant that were attacking everything,” said Brian Quinn. “Nobody was laying back in this game.”

Except the Force.

By halftime, the Sockers led, 2-0, even though both Zoran Karic and Waad Hirmez each hit goal posts with shots. The good fortune that followed them for Game 1 wasn’t as prevalent.

But it hardly mattered. Karic, taking Segota’s spot in the lineup, made a crossing run to the left midway through the first quarter, accepted a pass from Perez and beat P.J. Johns for the first goal.

Segota, the Sockers’ leading scorer during the regular season, won’t be back in this series, but Karic will.

“He gave them a lot of problems,” Newman said.

So did Perez, whose unassisted goal early in the second quarter made it 2-0. Quinn took the first shot, and the rebound rolled through Gino DiFlorio’s legs to Perez in front.

Johns stopped Perez’s first shot, but Perez gathered in the rebound and beat Johns on his second try.

Perez scored again with 7:05 gone in the third quarter, beating Carl Valentine to the top of the penalty box and putting a low shot past Johns into the right corner.

Cleveland, which had rallied to tie the Sockers four times in Game 1, couldn’t muster a response this time.

The Sockers’ defense limited them to just 20 shots and even widened the lead when Fernandez scored twice in the fourth period.

Cleveland didn’t get on the board until DiFlorio headed in a shot with 1:50 remaining.

All of this was enough to have Toth smiling by game’s end. Awarded the MISL Goalkeeper of the Year trophy earlier in the evening, Toth leaned back on a chair in his locker and talked of his defense and his trophy.

“Beautiful, just beautiful,” he said.

Socker Notes

Socker goalkeeper Zoltan Toth, who set Major Indoor Soccer League record with a 2.94 goals-against average this season, was presented with the league’s goalkeeper of the year award at halftime. Toth, who also won the award in 1982-83 with the New York Arrows, was the first goalkeeper in the 10-year history of the league to have an average less than 3.00. . . . The 1988 MISL most valuable player will be announced today, and the winner will be presented his award at halftime of Sunday’s Game 3. The Sockers’ Branko Segota and Toth are among the finalists for the award. . . . Socker Coach Ron Newman made two lineup changes before Game 2, starting forward Zoran Karic instead of Keder and using rookie-defender Hormoz Tabrizi in place of Brian Schmetzer. “I wanted to use Zoran to see how his style of play would fit in against Cleveland,” Newman said. “I started Hormoz because Brian has been hurting (with a sore left shoulder and toe), and I wanted to rest him.” The move to use Karic paid off six minutes into the game when he scored to give the Sockers a 1-0 lead. Karic, a 21-goal scorer during the regular season, didn’t have a point in three previous playoff-game appearances.